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How to Become a Christian


If you are not a Christian, you have a nature that is prone to sin. In order to get rid of it, you need a new nature. You cannot get one by yourself. It can be done only by God.

If you want to be a Christian, here is your part:

1. You need to want to be set free from the guilt and judgement for your sins and from the pow­er of sin.

2. You need to know that you are helpless in this want. You can’t set yourself free.

3. Know that being good and not be­ing bad will not set you free, nor will any other means of self-effort.

4. Know that God has already accom­plished this deliverance by sending the Lord Jesus to earth to die for you. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still pow­erless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).

Three days after this death for our sins, the Lord Jesus rose from the dead in order to make us righteous. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justi­fication” (Rom. 4:25).

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first impor­tance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve” (1 Cor. 15:1–5).

5. The Holy Spirit is now drawing you to turn from your sin, to call upon the Lord Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, trusting Him, His death, and His resurrection. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved . . . for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:9–10, 13). Tell Him you don’t want to live the way you’ve been living anymore, and ask Him to save you. He will do it.

Now that you have called upon the Lord Jesus, thank Him for saving you, for forgiving your sin, and for giving you everlasting life.

Now, in the joy of your forgiveness, tell some­one what God has done for you.

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